1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to control for restricting an image forming apparatus from executing a print job in accordance with fluctuation of electricity charges.
2. Description of the Related Art
With respect to electricity charges of a commercial power supply provided by an electric power company, there have been conventionally various types of contracts and systems in which a unit price of the electricity charge differs according to periods of time respectively. For example, in one contract, it has been determined that the unit price of the electricity charge is made low in the period of time from midnight to morning during which electric power consumption is low. It should be noted that the above contracts and systems are useful mechanism for controlling electric power demand of customers who actually use the electric power.
Incidentally, the global spread of smart meters which are highly-functional power meters having communication functions and device management functions has been expected in recent years. In the society in which a smart grid being a next-generation power network for efficiently managing and supplying power is achieved, it is conceivable that information of the electricity charges sent from the electric power company is received by the smart meter.
In the above society, it is conceivable to provide, as a method of more flexibly controlling the electric power demand, a mechanism of real-time electricity charges in which the electricity charges of the commercial power supply are changed on a 30-minute basis or a one-hour basis. Verification projects related to the real-time electricity charges have been actually carried out in the several states of the United States of America, and it will be expected to introduce in earnest the mechanism of real-time electricity charges in the future.
As just described, with respect to the electricity charges of the commercial power supply which frequently fluctuate according to the periods of time, if it is possible to control timing for consuming the power of an electronic device to be in the period of time of low electricity charges, then it is possible to lower the necessary electricity charges. Consequently, the above control is desirable for a user who uses the electronic device.
In particular, it should be noted that an image forming apparatus which thermally fixes a toner image formed by an electrophotographic method to a paper greatly consumes power in case of executing image printing on the paper. Consequently, it is conceivable for the image forming apparatus like this to control timing for executing a print job to be in the period of time of low electricity charges.
Incidentally, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-47760 discloses a technique of previously setting a predetermined allowable electricity charge in regard to electricity charges which frequently fluctuate, and determines whether to execute or wait for a print job by calculating the electricity charge necessary for the print job to be executed and comparing the calculated electricity charge with the predetermined allowable electricity charge.